The 2022 Manitoba Mega Train Show is almost here!

Heads up, Model Railroaders! The event you've been waiting for all year is almost here! The Manitoba Mega Train Show, the biggest train show between Toronto and Vancouver for 2022, is just a few days away! This year there are no Covid restrictions.

There will be tons of displays, many working layouts, lots of vendors and the Mega Train itself! So come on down to the Red River Exhibition Place, 3977 Portage Avenue on Saturday, September 24 between 9AM and 5PM and Sunday, September 25 between 9AM and 4PM.

A ticket is only ten bucks. Youths between the ages of four and twelve get in for five bucks. Kids three years old and under get in for free (but not all by themselves)! Admission includes unlimited free rides on the Mega Train! Hope to see you all there! It's a once in a year experience!
 

Portage La Prairie Model Railroad Club holds a Christmas Party

All aboard for Christmas at the Station! The Portage La Prairie Model Railroad Club is having a Christmas party on Saturday, December 18 from 10:00AM to 3:00PM. There will be model railroad exhibits, hot beverages, snacks and more!

Admission is only five bucks. Kids under 12 will be admitted for free. The CP station in Portage is located at 251 - 3rd street NE. Proof of COVID-19 double vaccination is required for entry for everyone 18 years of age and older.
 

Assiniboine Valley Railway is being forced to move

The Assiniboine Valley Railway is being forced to move from its present location by October. The 1:8 scale 7.5" gauge railway was founded in 1995 by the late Bill Taylor on his seven acre property in Charleswood. When he died in 2013, the group was allowed to remain on the premises by his widow, Mary-Lou Taylor. No information has been released on whether they will be able to find another location. The railway has been closed to the public since 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. 
 

Winnipeg Model Railroad club cancels 2021 spring open house

 The Winnipeg Model Railroad Club has cancelled their 2021 spring open house due to the restrictions concerning group meetings because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has only been the second time in 66 years that the WMRC spring open house has been cancelled.

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club cancels their November meeting

We are deeply saddened to announce that the November meeting of the WMRC, scheduled for Friday, November 13,  has been cancelled. When October's meeting was cancelled due to the city going into code orange from COVID-19 concerns, we were hoping that things would improve in a month. But now the situation has worsened, and we've gone from code orange to code red. 

Hopefully, things might improve in December. If so, our next meeting will be on Friday, December 11. We will continue to inform and entertain our members and the general public as best we can social media on Facebook and this site.  Stay safe, everyone!

Christopher Robinson’s rolling stock gains weight during COVID-19

 

 

Many of us have gained weight due to COVID-19, but Christopher Robinson decided to have his rolling stock gain weight instead. He had a set of Rivarossi heavyweight passenger cars which the bought at the 1983 Railway Jamboree, the NMRA national convention held in Winnipeg. The heavyweight cars were anything but heavyweight, weighing just two ounces, so he hefted them up to six ounces as his COVID-19 modelling project.

He found interiors for the coaches which added two ounces of weight, making the cars weigh five ounces. To bring them up another ounce, he turned the cars upside down and put lead shot in a 1/4 inch gap between the centre sills under the door.

He secured the lead shot with diluted white glue and painted it aircraft interior black. He painted the floors, walls and bulkheads in MOW grey, and the chair frames in railway tie brown. The seat cushions will be painted light Tuscan oxide red.

John Bate brings a great model to Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's monthly model display

Since our October meeting was cancelled due to the social gathering restrictions of COVID-19, we will be featuring model displays this month from all of those who submitted during our September meeting. These submissions, which usually appear in The Lantern, the official publication of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club, will appear on the WMRC blog site instead.  

WMRC Treasurer John Bate brought a terrific model to September's display. He modeled an N scale shipment of bales, which were transported to Western Canada in the drought years by the federal government. The pickets were scratch built from Styrene, and  the bales were made out of jute twine and tape. 

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club cancels October meeting

 

The WMRC's October meeting, which was supposed to take place on October 9, has been cancelled. The cancellation was made because of the orange alert which was imposed by the city of Winnipeg that limits all social gatherings to ten persons due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the city. This alert, which started on September 28, will last for four weeks. If it is not extended we will hold our next meeting on Friday, November 13.

Dennis Rietze makes more progress on his apartment layout

 

During these trying times of COVID-19, former WMRC Treasurer Dennis Rietze is keeping busy constructing his HO layout, which he calls the Twisted Creek Railway and Construction Company.

Dennis designed the layout to fit in the spare bedroom of his apartment. It is completely modular, built in sections which can be removed without any damage to the layout or to the room. By using a series of rectangular posts instead of 2x4’s to support the layout, it provides ample room for storage underneath, and it is wheelchair accessible.

Dennis’ latest project has been bridge construction, and as you can see he’s even modelling it, using HO scale dump trucks and earth moving equipment.

Prairie Dog Central cancels the rest of their 2020 season

The remainder of the season for the Prairie Dog Central has been cancelled due to concerns over COVID-19. This is the first time in 21 years that their season has been completely cancelled. The last time one of their seasons was cancelled was when they relocated to their present location on Inkster Boulevard.


Paul Newsome, general manager of the Vintage Locomotive Society which operates the train, stated that they felt that they could not live up to social distancing inside the train coaches without putting families and passengers at risk. 

All events planned for May, June and July for the Prairie Dog Central had already been cancelled. The fall season brought such popular events such as the fall supper diner train and the Halloween train.

The railway's remaining source of revenue is a commercial train car storage business, where the trackage is used to store rolling stock from other railroads.

The 2020 Manitoba Mega Train Show has been cancelled

The 2020 Manitoba Mega Train show has been cancelled. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers don't feel it is safe to run this year. The maximum allowable numbers for an inside event are too low to host the event, the logistics are far too difficult, and the health risk to everyone is too high.

If you have booked a table, the organizers will be in touch with you directly, and the money will be returned to you. The next Manitoba Mega Train Show is scheduled for Sept 25 & 26, 2021.

Another rail fanning and nature tour with Felix Lesiuk and Louis Lenz

Maybe it's due to the COVID-19 cabin fever rali fans have been experiencing, but we had an unusually large response on social media from our last post on long time WMRC member Felix Lesiuk's last rail fanning trip. Fortunately, he took another trip right after that, this time with his stalwart companion and long time WMRC member Louis Lenz.

Along with some great CP shots, Felix took some interesting images of some rarely seen CEMR and CN 100 motive power. He also indulged in some nature photography, capturing images of a red wing blackbird, some lady slippers and a dragonfly. Enjoy!

John Longhurst invites you to take a virtual layout hop

It has been a tradition at the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club to have a spring layout hop, where members were invited to tour some of the layouts around town. Unfortunately, this was not going to happen this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But long time WMRC member John Longhurst has come up with a unique alternative. He's put together a virtual layout hop using posts he selected from his blog, the CP Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision. 

John's blog, which has had well over one million views, has dutifully posted features about the finest layouts in Winnipeg for many years. Some of these layouts have been torn down, and some of the owners of the layouts have passed away, but they have been preserved online thanks to John's diligence. With a virtual layout hop, there is no driving between layouts, or trying to choose which ones to see based on time available. 

You'll see some great layouts by Arnie Walker, Stafford Swain, Ken Epp, George Meyer, Ron Loewen, and take a virtual ride on the Assiniboine Valley Railway! All you have to do is click here. 

Winnipeg Model Railroad Club cancels annual banquet

The WMRC's annual May AGM and banquet have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No awards for the club's annual photo and model contests will be given out this year due to the cancellation of the WMRC's spring train show. A draw for two HO gauge diesel engines, which usually takes place at the AGM, will be held at our first meeting, to be held on September 11 at the Charleswood Legion. T shirts with the club's 65th anniversary logo will be for sale at the meeting.

NMRA to hold virtual convention on Facebook this weekend

The NMRA British Region has come up with a wonderful idea! To make up for all of the national and regional model railroad conventions have been cancelled this spring due to COVID-19, they have created a virtual convention.

The convention will be held on April 24 and 25. It starts at Midnight in the UK, which six hours ahead of central standard time and five hours ahead of eastern standard time. Please adjust the time to your local time zone.

They will have clinicians and layout tours from across the world, representing the true global nature of the hobby and the NMRA. Every hour they will have a different clinician start a clinic using Facebook live in the NMRA Facebook Group.

The convention is open to anyone who is a member of the NMRA Facebook page.

A schedule of clinicians and tours have been posted on their Facebook page.  Their Facebook link is:  https://www.facebook.com/events/s/nmra-x-virtual-facebook-conven/1474263012755341/

Prairie Dog Central cancels May and June runs

The Prairie Dog Central Railway has cancelled all runs for the months of May and June due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vintage Locomotive Society, which owns and operated the Prairie Dog Central,  is monitoring the situation carefully, but no decision has been made as to if there will be any runs during the summer.

The railway has donated 1,000 latex gloves and 1,000 eye pieces to the Selkirk and District Regional Health Centre. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the gloves and eye pieces were used by volunteers performing regular maintenance and restoration work.

National Model Railroad Association cancels 2020 national convention

The National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) has cancelled their 2020 national convention. The convention, titled Gateway 2020, was scheduled to begin on July 12, 2020, in St. Louis, Missouri. The local host group has determined that they can no longer continue with the preparations and operation of the convention. One reason for the decision is that a key member is ill with COVID-19.

Some members of the local model railroad community in St. Louis have withdrawn their model railroads from the layout hops due to concerns about  the COVID-19 virus.

The NMRA has never cancelled a convention before Gateway 2020, including during World War II.

For those who have registered for the convention, the refund policy will be published as soon as possible at Gateway2020.org.

Regina's Railfest cancelled due to COVID-19

Regina Railfest 2020 has been cancelled. The model railroad exhibit was scheduled to be held at the Caledonian Curling Club in Regina, Saskatchewan on May 2 and 3, 2020. 

 

The show will not be proceeding due to the ongoing issues and concerns related to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and related guidance provided by the province of Saskatchewan and provincial health authorities regarding limitations and restrictions placed upon public gatherings.

 

Winnipeg Model Railroad's April meeting has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

The Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's April meeting, scheduled for Friday, April 17, 2020, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Normally, the club holds their elections at the April meeting. This will have to be postponed until the fall. The existing executive will continue to run the club until the next general meeting can be called.

No decision has been made as to whether the annual banquet and AGM should be held on May 8. The executive is monitoring the situation and will make a decision closer to the proposed date.

Gateway Western Railway closed until further notice

Tuesday nights are no longer Gateway nights for members of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club or the Winnipeg Railway Museum. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all operations at the Gateway have been suspended until further notice. The Winnipeg Railway Museum is also closed due to the pandemic.

The Gateway Western is almost as old as the WMRC itself. There have been several Gateway layouts in different locations for well over a half a century. The first one was on the main floor of Winnipeg's Union Station. That layout was torn down to make room for a larger bathroom for the station.

Its next incarnation was at Gooch's hobbies in its Sherbrook street location. This layout was taken apart and stored in a local warehouse when Gooch's hobbies moved their store to Portage Avenue.

Thanks to the combined efforts of the WMRC and the Winnipeg Railway Museum, the Gateway was once again resurrected and returned to its original location at Union Station. A tireless band of volunteers assembled an insulated, heated structure within the museum that houses what is now the largest permanent layout in the province.

When the health crisis has abated, the Gateway and the Winnipeg Railway Museum will reopen. Notices of the reopening will be posted on this site and on the club's Facebook page.